EGYPT. Egypt's caretaker premier named a new cabinet on Wednesday charged with tackling worsening crime and a sliding economy after the first round of elections showing a landslide victory for Islamist parties.

Interim PM Kamal al-Ganzuri announced his administration following nearly two weeks of delays, reportedly caused by problems in finding a suitable candidate to fill the highly sensitive interior ministry post.

He finally opted for Mohammed Ibrahim Yusuf, who headed police in the district of Giza in Cairo, who was sworn in in front of the head of Egypt's ruling military council Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, state television said.

Police have been accused of brutally handling recent protests against Tantawi, in which 43 people have died, and crime is widely seen as having increased since the ousting of former strongman Hosni Mubarak in February.

Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr was retained from the former cabinet which resigned in November in the face of escalating protests, while Mumtaz Said was named as finance minister.

Ganzuri, speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, called on all political parties to pull together behind his administration, billed as a "national salvation government."

"We can't leave security and the economy like this," he said.

"I ask for all the political movements, all the parties, and every individual to come together for the good of the country."

On Wednesday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) also announced it had granted Ganzuri "presidential powers," giving him greater control to run the country but no oversight of the armed forces or judiciary.

The opening round of the first elections since Mubarak's fall wrapped up on Tuesday, showing a crushing victory for Islamist parties over their disorganised and fragmented liberal rivals.

The Muslim Brotherhood, banned for decades by Mubarak, said its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) had won 36 out of 54 individual seats up for grabs in the first phase of the multi-stage parliamentary polls.

In a separate party vote, which will see more than a 100 seats distributed, it won 36.6% while the hardline Islamic fundamentalist party Al-Nur came second with 24.4%.

The FJP's expected landslide victory in the individual seats -- set to be confirmed by official results -- and its pre-eminence in the party voting sets it up to become the leading power in the 498-seat new lower parliament.

Al-Nur won five seats in the run off, party spokesman Mohammed Nour told AFP.

Only one third of districts have voted so far, however, with the remainder set to head to the polls in a further two waves beginning on December 14 and in January.

Although attention inside and outside Egypt has mostly focused on the country's troubled transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule by Mubarak, the economy is now causing grave concern.

The vital tourism industry has been badly affected by the unrest and corporate investment has dived.

A SCAF member warned last week that Egypt's foreign currency reserves were falling sharply and that it might have enough only to cover imports until the end of February.

Despite assurances from the army that it will hand full control to new civilian leaders, the elected parliament and a new president are expected to face a fierce power struggle.

The SCAF has already indicated it wants to retain many of its privileges from the Mubarak era, including oversight over military-related legislation, and wants to appoint figures to write the new constitution.

The prospect of an Islamist-dominated parliament has also raised fears among liberals about civil liberties, women's rights and religious freedom in a country with the Middle East's largest Christian minority.

The Brotherhood stressed throughout campaigning that Islamic values were compatible with democracy, and that it was in favour of individual freedoms and working with other non-Islamist political parties.

But Al-Nur, a Salafist group that advocates a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia, has emerged as a powerful new influence and is expected to do well in the remaining rounds of voting.

After the voting for the lower house of parliament, which will end in January, Egyptians will then elect an upper house in a further three rounds of polls.

A committee to draft a new constitution will then get to work before presidential elections by the end of June 2012.

MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS COMMENT & ANALYSIS

UAE. New research from Bain & Company and Red Hat indicates that many traditional companies are at an early stage in their digital journey; leaders stand out based on their use of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, advanced analytics and modern app development.

UAE. Insurers have been prompted to prepare for the effects that VAT and changes to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) will have on their industry as well as assessing the impact of new insurance regulations that came into effect earlier this year.

UAE. Insurers have been prompted to prepare for the effects that VAT and changes to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) will have on their industry as well as assessing the impact of new insurance regulations that came into effect earlier this year.

UAE. New research from Bain & Company and Red Hat indicates that many traditional companies are at an early stage in their digital journey; leaders stand out based on their use of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, advanced analytics and modern app development.

UAE. New research from Bain & Company and Red Hat indicates that many traditional companies are at an early stage in their digital journey; leaders stand out based on their use of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, advanced analytics and modern app development.